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The 19th Hijacker: A Novel
Everyone knows what happened on September 11, 2001. But do we really know what was behind this act of war? What was the lure? What was it about the Hamburg cell that appealed to him? What lured this educated son of a successful Lebanese family to the jihadist message of destruction and annihiliation that would result in the death of 3170 Americans? These questions torment Sami Haddad as he pondered his choice, in August of 2001, whether or not to join the 9-ll hijackers. Through a series of tape recordings which Sami had made in the months before the operation, he tells his beautiful and feisty Turkish-German lover, Karima Ilgun, of his first meeting with Muhammad Atta in Hamburg, of his training in Afghanistan under the watchful eye of Al Qaeda’s military chief, of his meeting with Osama bin Ladin where he swears his oath of allegiance, and of his final months of preparation in Florida where he comes to loath Muhammad Atta but cannot find the courage to flee. A sense of doubt and skepticism suffuses his musings to her, but also of weakness.
After the attack on 9/11, Kommissar Recht, a rumpled German government investigator), is tasked to ferret out Karima’s role, if any, as an Al Qaeda operative. He comes to suspect that she is withholding valuable evidence, but under German privacy law he is barred from employing strong-arm tactics that would force her to talk.
Surviving members of the Al Qaeda cell in Hamburg also suspect Karima is hiding Sami’s tapes. To them Sami’s recollections are sacred artifacts of what they deemed to be their successful mission, but they fear his presentation of the attack might be something less than heroic. Karima is caught between these two forces, either of which could have terrible consequences for her. How she resolves this dilemma is the climax of the novel.
After the attack on 9/11, Kommissar Recht, a rumpled German government investigator), is tasked to ferret out Karima’s role, if any, as an Al Qaeda operative. He comes to suspect that she is withholding valuable evidence, but under German privacy law he is barred from employing strong-arm tactics that would force her to talk.
Surviving members of the Al Qaeda cell in Hamburg also suspect Karima is hiding Sami’s tapes. To them Sami’s recollections are sacred artifacts of what they deemed to be their successful mission, but they fear his presentation of the attack might be something less than heroic. Karima is caught between these two forces, either of which could have terrible consequences for her. How she resolves this dilemma is the climax of the novel.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published February 23, 2021
13 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 4, 2022
Such a disappointment!
I was really looking forward to this book because I bought it while visiting the National 9/11 Museum in New York City. I expected it to be a well-researched and in-depth look into the "other side of the story" and insight into how someone goes from being an average boy to a suicide terrorist.
Instead, it honestly reads like the author just Googled "terrorist cells in Europe" and "Islamic extremists ideology" then took the information from the associated Wikipedia pages and tried to build a story around it.The fact that the final outcome was predictable was not an issue, because we all know how the story ends. But it doesn't seem actually researched at all. It comes across as more ignorant speculation than actual fact-based hypothesis.
In addition, the writing style was really poor. It reads more like it was written by a highschool student who hopes to be an author one day and tried to write his first Young Adult novel. Except this is definitely not intended to be a YA novel. If it had been written by a high school student, I would have said good job. But the fact that this was written by a professional author and actually edited by someone astounds me. It was very overly dramatic and the interactions between the characters were at best unlikely, and at worst completely unrealistic.
I was really looking forward to this book because I bought it while visiting the National 9/11 Museum in New York City. I expected it to be a well-researched and in-depth look into the "other side of the story" and insight into how someone goes from being an average boy to a suicide terrorist.
Instead, it honestly reads like the author just Googled "terrorist cells in Europe" and "Islamic extremists ideology" then took the information from the associated Wikipedia pages and tried to build a story around it.The fact that the final outcome was predictable was not an issue, because we all know how the story ends. But it doesn't seem actually researched at all. It comes across as more ignorant speculation than actual fact-based hypothesis.
In addition, the writing style was really poor. It reads more like it was written by a highschool student who hopes to be an author one day and tried to write his first Young Adult novel. Except this is definitely not intended to be a YA novel. If it had been written by a high school student, I would have said good job. But the fact that this was written by a professional author and actually edited by someone astounds me. It was very overly dramatic and the interactions between the characters were at best unlikely, and at worst completely unrealistic.
May 10, 2025
The appeal of this book is the mystery of how a person with everything going for them could take such a path in life. The author successfully addresses the mystery with a set of revealing tapes where the hijacker describes that path to his girlfriend; tapes she does not hear until after 9/11. The other main characters are the girlfriend (how could she be so close yet so clueless?) and an old softie german detective who gets too close to the girlfriend (why is he so sympathetic?). Its a well-written, believable piece of fiction and the slow reveal of the tapes and the girlfriend's reactions keeps one interested. Though I wanted to kick the detective a few times; you'll see why.
September 12, 2021
Sept 11, 2021: I set aside today to read something related to 9/11/2001. It was a good choice. Whether true history or fiction inspired by historical events, Reston is a
master. My day has not been wasted! (And I finished in time to watch my Miami Marlins beat the first-place Braves, 6 to 4 - a totally good day!)
master. My day has not been wasted! (And I finished in time to watch my Miami Marlins beat the first-place Braves, 6 to 4 - a totally good day!)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews